The World I've Come to Know

Not much time passed until the party started, and I showed up about five minutes late. It was somewhere on the second floor of the castle, I didn't exactly know where, which is why I needed a guard to escort me. Who else better than Peaches? As the doors opened, I was assaulted with the sound of music and hundreds of ponies collaborating, dancing, and singing.

"Have fun!" Peaches said, as he left for his duties. As I stepped through the door, the room turned silent immediately and the music stopped. All the ponies stood there and stared directly at me and nothing else. Suddenly, a pink blur flashed to me and I felt a pressure around me waist. I looked down and saw a pair of blue eyes staring at me from below.

"Looks like the new pony showed up!" the pink one yelled out with a giggle. As soon as she said that, all the sounds started again and a small group of ponies walked up to me, including that purple one that was at the celebration. Now that I've got a good look at her, she's an alicorn, just like the princesses! Is this the other princess that Celestia and Luna were talking about? I thought. All the ponies that surrounded me started talking at the same time, saying their own things to me. It was a bit overbearing, but, I tried to respond to them as best as I could. Soon enough, the purple alicorn spoke up to me, which made all the other crowding ponies quiet down.

"Ahem...I am Princess Twilight Sparkle," she said. "I am the librarian of Ponyville and the Element of Magic. I heard from the speech that your name is Raymond?"

"Yes, that's right. Raymond Dietrich Frederov. The first and, hopefully, the only human in Equestria," I answered.

"A "Hooman?" I've never heard of that species before," she said, inquisitively.

"Well, I don't think I'm quite from this world," I said.

"Hm...It's obvious to me that you've got a different anatomy, do you mind if I study you some time?"

"...I...guess?" I said, confused. The thought of her drawing me naked entered my mind. I shook it away quickly.

"Great! Oh, and, that's Spike over there," she motioned to the dragon playing the piano up on the stage. "He's a dragon."

"Hm...interesting...I've never seen a dragon in person before, but, then again, I hadn't seen talking ponies prior to me coming here," I said. "Then again, that was around the time of mages existing."

"Oh? You've never seen dragons before?" Twilight asked.

"Oh, uh...no. They're all extinct in my world. From what folk tales talk about, they'd terrorize villages, burn the houses, eat the people, and so on," I said.

"That's interesting. What happened to make them all extinct? I mean, they're everywhere in Equestria," Twilight said.

"Oh, you know...forced termination of their species."

"..."Forced...Termination?"..."

"...My people killed them all for the terrorizing of the villiages. Survival of the fittest, I suppose." All the ponies dropped their jaw at that...except for the yellow one, who shrunk back.

"Oh...my...gosh...Your people took on ALL the dragons...? AND WON?!" the blue one asked.

"...Yeah, I think that's how it went-"

"THAT IS SO COOL!" she screamed out erratically.

"Y-You wouldn't do that to Spike...w-would you...?" the yellow one nervously asked.

"Well...I don't see him terrorizing any villages...do you?" I asked.

"Well...N-No..."

"Then, he has nothing to worry about," I said, taking a seat at a nearby table and crossing on leg over the other.

"Would you like some cake?" a nearby waitress asked me. The pink one shook her head violently with a big smile.

"I maaade it speeeciaaaal...!" the pink one whispered out to me from across the table.

"...I guess, I could have a slice, sure," I said, looking at the pink one, who looked like she was going to explode. The cake arrived shortly after, which came with a small mug of...cider...?

"Us back at Sweet Apple Acres made that cider just for this occasion," the orange one said, seeming to take pride in her work. It was fizzing up to the top of the mug. This obviously wasn't any ordinary cider.

"Alright, all of you," I said, "Let's start with names. Going down the row starting with you," I said, motioning to the pink one at my left.

"I'm Pinkie Pie! Element of Laughter!"

"My name is Rarity, Element of Generousity."

"Mah name's Applejack! Ah'm the Element of Honesty!"

"F-Fluttershy...Element of Kindness..."

"Rainbow Dash, the fastest flier in all of Equestria and the Element of Loyalty!"

"Hm...Interesting..." I said. "So, you," I pointed to Pinkie Pie, "make cakes, and you," I pointed to Applejack, "make cider?"

"Not just cakes!" Pinkie yelled out, "I make cupcakes, and strudels, and cookies, and sweet breads, and-" she stopped herself, "...And a whole bunch of other stuff!"

"Well, Ah make anything related to apples. Ah won't go too far into detail like Pinkie did, but, Ah'll tell ya this: Sweet Apple Acres in Ponyville makes th' best apples in all 'f Equestria!" Applejack said.

"Well, I'll keep that in mind for when I move to Ponyville," I responded. Shameless self promotion, I thought.

As the night went on, we talked and had a good time. After about eight cups, the cider had been enough to give me a miniscule welcoming warmth of alcohol, meanwhile, some ponies were on their fourth and passed out. Some of the drinking adults called me a legend for being able to drink that much. It really wasn't that bad, though. Not very alcoholic, to be honest. Probably...2% alcohol, or whatever this depressant may be. After a while, the pianist, Spike, I believe it was, crashed at the piano. It's probably 10 PM by now and Twilight did mention during our conversations that he was only a baby dragon.

"Aw, man! Now who's going to be the entertainment?!" I heard a colt shout. A whole lot of ponies joined in with him on his complaining. I stood up, still sober, and walked over to the stage and stood up on it. I took a look at the piano and noticed that it's just like the ones on earth, same layout and everything.

I used to play the piano back home, I'd taken lessons for it as a teenager. Not too long ago, actually. The lessons are pretty fresh in my head, I thought. "Alright, everyone! I'll be the entertainment!" I yelled out to the crowd. The entire room started cheering as I sat down. When they quieted down, I spoke another time, but, into the microphone that was sitting atop the piano, "This one's an easy one from back home called "Entertainer." Enjoy."

As soon as I played the first note, I thought I could sense something in my hands. I didn't know what it was, but, it was certainly there. Not a bother, though. I continued playing on. I began whispering the notes for the right hand to myself while I played as I continued the song. I had it memorized, as a pianist should. "A, E, #E, #F, D, #F, D, #F, D, D, E, #E, #F, D, E, #F, #C, E, D." The song went by fairly quickly as it should, it wasn't very long, but, this feeling in my hands...it started burning. It was as if energy was building up. The crowd clapped for me when I finished.

I began once again in the microphone, "We-he-hell, thank you, all. This next song is "Faster Than All!" Please help yourself to Pinkie's sweet treats she's so gratefully baked for us, and, don't forget to try Sweet Apple Acre's own cider! If you're of age, of course!" I snapped to them all and a small plant tipped over near the entrance. Everypony started clapping again as I started playing. I soon started to break a sweat as the energy in my hands started to cause me to heat up. I could hardly understand what was happening. A faint breeze blew through the shutters, which slightly calmed me down, but, it wasn't enough to stop the burning. When I finished, everypony began clapping and I was breathing fairly heavily. My hands burned, I felt like I was, quite literally, on fire! How strange it was to feel this after only playing two songs!

Twilight walked up on the stage next to me, "Raymond...You don't look so good right now...I think you should stop..." Some of the ponies in the crowd had noticed my distress and they started talking among themselves about it.

"No..." I replied, "I must do one more...Something faster than the other songs I'd played..." Twilight looked at me worriedly.

"Are you sure, Raymond? I don't want you to hurt yourself." I ignored her completely and spoke once more into the microphone, bearing a flat tone.

"...Death Waltz..." I said. Some ponies looked around in confusion, no one had clapped this time. I began to play using both my hands and, when only a few measures in, I realized that I may not be able to do this, as this required more than two hands to play. Suddenly, my vision blackened and I stopped for a moment. "Yes...I see..." I said. My eyes turned a faint blue color and I could see a plethora of notes. I quickly began again, fastening my pace, and I doubled the speed of my left hand, simulating three hand's movements. Twilight noticed the glow in my eyes and started sensing something...different...

Ten measures forward, three hands were not in any way enough for this. I grunted as my right hand moved faster. "Four hands," I whispered to no one. Twilight still stood beside me, noticing how the glow in my eyes had made my pupils unable to be seen. She began to worry, but, I paid no attention to her. It wasn't long until I needed a whole six hands. I felt the wind pick up as the shutters started opening and slamming shut. A storm was brewing as I attempted to quicken the pace of my hands, but, I knew damn well that this would not be enough. I yelled out in agony as pain shot down my spine as I continued to play. Another set of arms made of pure energy sprouted from my back as I began playing. "Six hands!".

Ponies began screaming, the children crying for their mothers and fathers as they saw the one that claimed he was average have a new set of arms grow from his spine. Lightning struck time and time again, completely decimating trees in the royal garden and the wind grew stronger. Twilight began inching backwards away from me. I screamed out again in agony as more pain shot through my spine. Another pair of arms sprouted from my spine and I could feel the energy surging from my body. "EIGHT HANDS!" I yelled out in a doubled voice. The storm raged, sending in rain, hail, sleet, and snow. As soon as I began playing even faster, the piano, and me with it, began to lift from the ground, along with all the tables down below the stage.

The shutters of the windows were torn from their hinges and began flying around the room, splintering as they reached a speed not fit for their atomic structure. A torrent of wind, and all forms of precipitation that had entered the room spun around the whole room and attacked the now floating ponies. Celestia and Luna had rushed into the room only to begin stuck in the torrent themselves. They used a spell to stabilize themselves, but nothing could stop me but myself now. Twilight ran off the stage and met up with the other princesses, where they began trying to devise a plan on what to do. Twilight tried using a tranquilization spell on me, only for pain to surge up my spine as a new set of arms grew again to grab the spell in mid-flight towards me.

My eyes immediately turned from blue to red and I quickened my playing. I had become far too unstable. The torrent became even more violent, sweeping the princesses themselves off their feet, unable to keep stabilization. Guards tried rushing in to help and, as they tried to attack me with spears, the new set of hands simply grabbed and absorbed their weapons and threw them back into the maelstrom of weather, wind, wood, cake, cider, and the many guests that had been in the room. My nose began to bleed from both sides as I began to release energy. Luna managed to stay afloat in one place nearby myself and started yelling out to me.

"Raymond! You must stop this! This isn't like you!" She yelled out.

"Luuunaaaa..." I said, able to see her among the notes that were blinding me.

More guards suddenly showed up and the two free hands shot bolts of lightning that weren't enough to kill, but enough to temporarily parilyze them, picking them off one by one. I picked up speed with the left hands as the vortex in the room fastened with me. Twilight and the other "Elements" attempted to gather together wearing different decour, but none of them were strong enough to stabilize themselves. Every attempt Twilight had at keeping a shield up to block them from the spinning whirlpool that was this room was foiled by large slabs of wood slamming into the shield, destroying it.

Soon enough, the foundation of the ballroom we were all in began to crack, as if I was attempting to pull it from it's roots.

"Raymond, please! Stop this! If you don't, they'll turn you to stone like they did Discord!" Luna shouted in tears. My expression did not change as the music slowed slightly, but the maelstrom, only worsened. The piano keys started to split and crack from the force I was exerting upon it. Two of my hands went up the keyboard, half way down, back up, and down again. I quickened shortly after that with my left hands as they were just a blur. The entire guard force was attempting to help out here, but, were caught in the storm. I sharply and suddenly quickened my pace severly. It seemed as though every key was being played at the same time. With my hands going back and forth, there was no way you could keep up. That was until I slid all my hands up the keyboard in one single motion once, and then a second time.

"Raymond, please stop!" Luna yelled before being sucked into the vortex herself. I began slamming my hands down on the keys far too fast with all of my hands until I used all my hands to go up the keyboard playing every key. I paused for a moment as the vortex continued until slamming every one of my hands down on the piano, breaking it in two and causing the whirlpool to stop. In that moment, everything, including the piano, fell straight down, as if it had no velocity to begin with. Everypony hit the ground hard, except for me. I stayed in the place that I was and floated down to the ground as my vision came back and the hands receded back into my body. The moment I touched the ground, I almost fell over, only catching myself with a wall. The whole place was silent aside from glasses breaking.

I stumbled over to the door to the balcony and I walked outside. The weather had stopped out here and was dry, for the most part. I leaned on the railing and, the moment I put my hands on it, I had the overwhelming need to purge what was inside my body. I leaned over the balcony and threw up everything that was in my system, or what I thought was everything. My vomit was blue and glowing. It wasn't the food that I had, but, it was like an ectoplasm. I had to throw up more and more of it until I had finally gotten it all out of my system. When I was able to stand back up from the position I had vomited in, I pulled the cigar case out of my coat and took out a cigar and the small lighter/cutter I keep in it. I put the case back and cut, and lit the cigar. In the next moment, Celestia burst through the doors of the balcony.

"What do you have to say for yourself?!" she yelled out to me.

"I have...nothing to say..." I said, weakly, blowing out smoke.

"I thought you said that you didn't have any powers! And what was that chaos you stirred up in there?! Nothing?!" She yelled out. I didn't respond. "Speak to me!"

"I don't know, alright?! I have no idea what it was, how do you expect me to know?! The last time I'd heard of humans using anything like that, was in stories from the middle ages!" I started before coughing intensely. I leaned back over the railing and started dry heaving. I turned back around and continued puffing on my cigar. We stood there in silence, neither of us knew what to say.

"You don't know...?" she asked, the elements walking through the door. I shook my head, blowing out the smoke. She shook her head.

"That certainly was magic and of intense proportions," Twilight said.

"I don't know how to use any damn magic, alright?" I said.

"That only helps support my point," Twilight responded. "You don't know how to use magic and you started building it up while you were playing and you kind of...Magic Binged. You had to release it somehow and you kept pulling in more and more magic to use and it caused the mana whirlpool in there."

"Magic Binged, huh?" I asked.

"Yes, that's right. You obviously don't know how to control it right now, so...It should have been expected. Normally, you only see this in foal unicorns and sometimes fillies...I've never heard of it happening to a...human..." Twilight raised a brow. As I was about to respond, I turned around and began dry heaving again. This time, I spit out a bit more ectoplasm. Twilight cringed.

"Yeah...You've binged...really badly...I've never seen somepony binge this much," she said. I simply grunted, not standing up. Luna came through the door and walked over to me.

Celestia stopped her, "Luna, wait! He's dangerous!" Luna turned around and glared at Celestia.

"I trust him enough to believe he wouldn't do anything purposely malicious," she said, turning back around and walking over to me. Luna gently patted my back as I continued to dry heave. "There you go...let it all out..." she said, kindly.

"I...am not...a child..." I said through the heaves.

"Maybe not, but, you're still not doing so well in the health department," she said, smiling. I stood back up, with a cough. I had to relight my cigar again, which had everypony holding their breath.

"He's doing it again!" Fluttershy (quietly) yelled, ducking in cover behind Twilight. Celestia glared at me.

"Hm?" I looked up from my cigar. "Oh, no, this isn't magic. This is a small mechanism that makes fire." Everypony released their held breaths, but, Celestia kept her glare.

"Pardon him, Celestia," Luna demanded.

"Excuse me?" she asked, insulted.

"Pardon him. He does not not know what he is doing," she demanded once more. Celestia was about to say how wrong it would be until, "Pardon him or banish me with him," she said flatly.

"What?!" she exclaimed, furiously.

"You heard what I have to say, so, punish him. But, you will punish me once more," Luna said, spitefully. Celestia started stuttering a bit at a loss of words.

"Princess Celestia, I could teach him how to control his powers and use it for a better cause!" Twilight said. "He could be a valuable asset to us, seeing that he was powerful enough to make all three of us princesses lose our stance! If he just knows how to use it, he can help us immensely!" All the other Elements nodded in agreement, smiling. Celestia sighed in defeat.

"Fine. I will pardon you. But, if you can not contain your abilities and do something like this once more, Raymond, you will be severely punished," Celestia said angrily before walking away. I looked to Luna, then to Twilight.

"You two didn't have to do that," I said, taking a puff from my cigar.

"Yes, we did," the two said simultaneously.

I blew out the smoke, "If you say so." I turned to Twilight, "So, magic, huh?" I took another puff. "Let's get started some time soon, eh? How's tomorrow sound?"